Skip to main content

Coffee Adventures

Something I love about coffee is that it is pretty much everywhere. Some places have better coffee, some have Dunkin Doughnuts. I find it extremely interesting how the area affects the coffee scene.



My home state of Arizona does not have much of a coffee scene. Starbucks rules with an iron fist here. One of the main issues is that there is not a lot of foot traffic here. The city is sprawled out over miles and miles. We don't have a booming down town area like most cities. Those two factors are the main reason mom and pop shops can't survive in the world of chains and franchises.

My experience in San Diego is that they love the weather (I mean, who doesn't?). So the coffee shops tend to be more open and utilize fresh air and the natural scenery. It is also kind of hipster town where everyone wants to really know where the product is coming from. I find that most of the places I frequent there are mom and pop shops. I think the most of any have 2-3 locations total.

Coffee shops are kind of cultural hub and have been for hundreds of years. The coffee itself will tell what the people are like. Do they wait for high quality or do they want it now? Do people like to try new things or do they stick to the comfortable chains that are always the same?

The design of the shops tells you about what the people value. Are all the decorations recycled? Does it have earth tones, bright colors, or is it industrial? What does the art on the walls tell you about the people? How do the people interact with each other? All of these will open you up to what that area is like as a whole.

Coffee shops reflect the people they serve.

I am now traveling to Orlando, Florida. I am going to try and find a few good coffee shops and see how the region affects how they do things.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Themed Branding and New Coffee Bags

I recently had a revelation about my brand. I recently finished Gary Vee's book Crushing It!  and posed a question on how to interact with people and not sound spamy. The guys over at Orange Cactus Coffee replied and then did one a short podcast to better explain their approach. I listened to and the MC referenced El Cantante from Muertos Coffee and it caught me off gaurd. I had actually forgotten that I themed all my socail media.

Review of Royal Coffee

It was Avengers weekend and I had my tickets purchased waaaay in advance. We do the early morning show because it is a lot less expensive. Naturally, we needed coffee to make sure we were fully alert to watch the awesomeness of Marvel. Therefore, we decided to stop at a little coffee shop I ran across called Royal Coffee. It was an interesting set up. It was more like a kiosk set up on the ground floor of a spa (nothing spa related on the bottom floor). There was some art on the walls and the setup had a nice modern look, clean and efficient. There was a single barista, which caused some operational issues. Truth is though, they couldn’t fit a second barista in there if they wanted to. They have a very interesting approach, which I happen to like a lot. In the Biltmore mall, they have 2 small kiosk type shops. They are like stores within stores. They essentially took over the mall by placing small, very manageable kiosks through the mall. That is a great idea.    ...

Developing My Palate with Press Coffee

With my re-branding efforts, I'm working to develop my palate. I need to be able to better taste the products that I'm providing. As a coffee roaster, I need to be able to tell what effects any changes I make has on the bean. The only way to do that is to taste. The hard part is that it's very difficult to distinguish what we taste. Most of us think in cave man perspectives, "mmm, good," or, "me no like." So, with that in mind, I decided to do a cupping with one of the best roasters in town.